SweetMeef's Blog - 2old2play

Review: SSX3 - Xbox

I played SSX Tricky on a friend’s xbox via Blockbuster, and we ended up renting it 3+ times because it was so fun. So when I read a review stating that SSX3 had improved on an already stellar game, I snagged it off ebay for cheap (see my blog on “gaming on the cheap”). Despite its lack of xbox Live support, it had proved to be a stellar game, and does not disappoint.

First, the visuals—for those of you with HDTVs and component cables, SSX3 is gorgeous. It is probably one of the most visually impressive games I own (you can see my library of games if you like in my profile), and that is saying a lot considering its competition of games like H2, Doom 3, and Forza. 10/10 on visuals.

Second, interface navigation—the menus are pretty straightforward and intuitive. There is a twinge of redundancy (i.e. a “Buy Gear” menu and an “Equip Gear” menu could be easily consolidated) but minimal confusion or randomness. The biggest gripe I have is “confirmation prompts” that appear to ask you if you are sure you want to make a choice (overwriting your save file, quitting a race). You basically have to make the choice twice. While I’m sure this is just a precautionary measure, it can get annoying, especially when trying to quickly restart a race or something of the sort. 8/10

Third, the levels (a.k.a. “the Mountain”)—EA Big did a really good job of tying levels together into one big mountain (or “world”). The mountain consists of 3 peaks, each of which has various runs. The runs have specific events that you can board right up to. There are still load times, but you still get the feel that you “happened upon” the event, which is hard to describe, but adds to the game’s continuity. Even better, though, is the ability to transport to a different peak or run from the start menu. This option alone makes this game outshine a plethora of other xbox titles involving “worlds” or large levels. I am reminded of MMORPGs like EverQuest and WOW, where travel is a fairly significant part of the game. Sure you can use a mount, teleport, or other means of transportation, but in the scheme of the game, travel becomes monotonous and a significant waste of time. SSX3’s transport feature allows you to zip to a different location at the touch of a button or two. This time-saving feature keeps you in the action. I can assure you I doubt I’d still be playing the game if I had to board down to a lift station or lodge or a specific location to transport elsewhere on the mountain. The biggest gripe I have about the levels is their moderate linearity. Sure, there are a few paths down the run, but for the most part they are adjacent to one another and not all that diverse. It would be neat if multiple runs intertwined like a real life ski slope, but I understand that level-wise, it would be too large and add to load times and, in reality, be just one single massive run that had more drastic path diversity. So I’ll let that one slide. 9/10

Fourth, the gameplay—controlling your rider is pretty simple. It takes some getting used to using both the left thumbstick (steering) and the D-pad (trick rotation) but it soon becomes second nature. I was slightly disappointed at first because I remembered SSX Tricky being a bit easier to control, but I realized this was only because my rider’s stats were low. Bumping them up to par reunited me with the fluid control I remember, which is pretty spot on. I do have two gripes about the controls, though. The first is what I call “slope push” which is when you are steering toward a jump, rail, or obstacle that is on a horizontal slope (left to right, not downhill/uphill). The slope pushes your rider back down toward the center in a slightly over-exaggerated way. It’s kind of like eccentric gravity, and the biggest detriment of this slope push is that it makes it significantly difficult to hit rails you wish to ride that are on a horizontal slope, as you will often miss the rail to the lower side of the slope. I remember this being much easier in Tricky, but it’s not a crippling negative. The second gripe is EA Big’s assigning of the “X” button. On snow, X is used to boost your rider to achieve greater speed. In the air, X is used to perform a grab. As you can imagine, the result is your rider going over a small bump, catching some air, and performing a grab by mistake, making your rider bust for not releasing the grab. This gets pretty annoying, especially since each time you fall, your boost meter is decreased as a penalty. EA could have done a better job of button assignment, having a dedicated boost button that wouldn’t perform accidental grabs. For the most part though, if you can anticipate this annoying behavior somewhat, the problem is minimal. The rest of the gameplay is fun and unique and does not grow tiresome. 8.5/10

Fifth, the music—no hard drive soundtracks stinks a bit, but the game’s soundtrack is extensive and is fairly diverse, from Fatboy Slim to Red Hot Chili Peppers to YellowCard to Chemical Brothers. There is a decent amount of techno/drum&bass-esque music, but unless you hate that style, it’s tolerable (and you can lower the volume to your liking if you so choose.) You can buy songs to create custom playlists, but if I understand it correctly, you’re just buying songs they would play anyway in the normal course of the soundtrack. It would be worthwhile if you could unlock new songs as you progressed. 9/10

The last thing I’ll discuss as part of the game is the Lodge. As you progress, you can use money you earn from events and collectibles to purchase just about anything you can think of. First and foremost you can buy attributes to make your rider better, which is sweet and crucial; some events you simply cannot win until your rider is better. I spend most of my cash here. By winning events, you receive rewards not only monetary but also in terms of “unlockables.” These include gear (boards/apparel) and things like trading cards and posters. You can buy some unlockables in the Lodge, but unless you have money to burn, it’s pretty pointless to do so, and the concept is a bit lame in itself, since the posters/cards are framed as opposed to full screen and aren’t that visually impressive. Another thing you can buy in the lodge is “UBER tricks” which are the special moves you perform after performing a series of successful tricks. The Uber tricks were the highlight of Tricky, although I remember them being easier to “activate” in Tricky. In SSX3, you have to do 4 consecutive grabs that each spell a letter of “UBER” and once you fill in the 4 letters, you activate your UBER tricks and can then bust them out. Anyway, you can buy different UBER tricks than the 5 or 6 your rider comes with if you wish, but they’re pretty expensive.

In summary, the open feel of the game and ability to “freeride” rather than jumping from event to event makes this game very fun and enjoyable. Another awesome addition that I don’t think was available in Tricky was the ability to restart a Heat without having to restart the entire event, so if you have a great Run 1 and botch Run 2, you can restart and keep your Run 1 score/time. I recommend this game to anyone that is even remotely interested in the series, and overall give it a 9/10.

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Game Difficulty: hanging in the balance.

Game Difficulty: hanging in the balance.

I’m speaking to the masses, here. Not the gurus or the ditzes. To clarify, gurus are the guys who either own a handful of games and play or have played each one often and more than once. Ditzes are the guys who get 25% through a game, and box it up to play a newer game, never resuming the first.

The masses are the majority, I think, who like to get a game and finish it at least once, but don’t master it, play it on every difficulty level, or write a FAQ on it.

Now that I’ve established my audience, I’d like to comment on the importance of default difficulty of a game, with some notes on cheat codes and glitches.

Aside: I saw a laptop commercial w/ Shaun White (snowboarder/skateboarder) and me mentions he uses it to go and get all the cheat codes for his games so he can beat them as fast as possible. Keep that in mind when reading.

The masses, in general, buy a game, start it, beat it, and then move on to the next game if one worth playing is available (and these days, there is). Very few people, I believe, start a game on a harder or easier difficulty than default (exceptions being having played the game before; for example playing the previous year’s Madden before). Though more common, not many people, while traversing through a game, say “this is too easy/hard; I’m going to bump up/down the difficulty level.” Most of us, when a game is difficult, enjoy the challenge of discovering how to beat it, and the reward in doing so is much sweeter. Sadly, the masses (and significantly more so-the ditzes) have a relatively short attention span, such that if a game isn’t firing on all cylinders, it will see early retirement. Approximately 80% of my game time goes toward Halo 2 on XBL, where the experience is diverse enough to remain entertaining (in other words, I’m not burnt out, and the 2o2p site had even renewed my vigor for the game because of the community). I must confess that to this day I have never played all the way through the Campaign (of H2). I played H1 Campaign with friends before I got my xbox and likely played every mission at some point, but H2 was out when I got my xbox, so while I got H1 with it, I haven’t played it more than maybe once. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you what level of the campaign I’m on in H2… The last thing I remember was I think rescuing marines from a ship and trying to get out. Sad, I know. For me, the story just didn’t grab me and make me want to not only see, but Cause, what happens next. Further, given my 80% statistic, I play the Campaign so seldom that I don’t really recall what was going on when I last left, so it’s difficult to immerse myself in the world that is H2 Campaign. With other games, it may not be the story that fails to draw attention, but other factors. I hate games that give you the super-bad-mofo weapon/car/ability right when you’re 98% through the game. If I’m going to get a bad mamma-jamma sword that glows blue and hurls demons at the bad guy, I want to use that thing! Not the entire game, mind you, but enough such that at the game’s end, I’m not saying “would’ve been nice to have that a few levels back…” This is where cheat codes and glitches make or break a game. Codes can add or subtract to a game in terms of enjoyment, difficulty, and replay value to name a few. Since very few of us play through the game a second time on a higher difficulty so we can see 2 minutes of extra cut scenes, it can be nice to use codes at times to throw in additional variety. For example, in Final Fantasy 1 (NES), you could use a game genie to learn spells you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to learn, which is good; in Forza (xbox) there is a glitch (before you go online) to make as much money as you want; in Fable (which rocks) there is a glitch to duplicate keys that opens a chest containing the 3rd best weapon of the game (cool looking hammer). For me, things like this do not break the game, but rather take out the “grind” aspect that may be tolerable at first, but quickly becomes monotonous and dull. When I used to play Everquest… that game is the definition of “grind.” On the plus side, you could always improve; you were never “capped” at a certain level of “bad-arseticity” where you just run around and own everything in your path. However, the means to improve were ridiculously tedious. Looking back, I ask who in their right mind would “camp” an area, killing the same respawning monsters over and over and over for hours on end, to see a bar slowly creep up and eventually give you a point to spend toward an ability that costs 9 points… Insanity.

Circumventing “grinds” adds value to a game. Yes, it shortens the game and makes it play differently than intended by the developers, but IT KEEPS THE GAMER’S ATTENTION, and in today’s market, Attention Retention is what sells games. There are some games whose codes/glitches break the game, making it ridiculously easy such that the game is completed in record time, and the motivation for upping the difficulty is nil, since the initial experience was so easy that replay would be far to difficult or time consuming, by comparison. That is why it is vitally important for developers to establish a healthy, balanced default difficulty, strictly control what cheats/glitches exist (easier said than done) and provide online patches to fix “game-breakers.” (Like Halo did with pulling weapons/items through walls and other quirks), and lastly make the reward for completing the game on a higher difficulty worthwhile such that a gamer would want to give it another run through. So many games have great potential but fall short due to these factors. On the bright side though, it’s a competitive industry, technology is forever advancing, and achieving this perfect model is getting easier by the second.

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Gaming on the Cheap

Gaming on the Cheap

I’ve never been the first on the block with a new system, product, or service. I’m always hesitant when getting new things because I live on a budget-not a strict one really, but I am always mindful of how I spend my money.

My system library looks something like this:

ColecoVision; Atari 2600; NES; Game Gear; N64; PS1; Xbox

The most notable consoles I skipped out on include the SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, PS2, and Dreamcast. All these systems I wanted at one time or another, but held out for the next one – a sort of “every other” plan if you will. This has been good and bad in that I have not spent a fortune on new systems and games and that has paid dividends in terms of savings, college, and other things. It’s bad in that I’m always behind the times. I’d love to own a 360, but it’s really just not in the budget right now – perhaps when H3 is released, if the price drops a bit. The good news for those of you who are like me is that there is a LOT of fun to be had still with your old systems, if you just look at them as an investment. I say investment because there are always going to be “bigger better” systems with HD graphics and state-of-the-art this-and-that. I would argue, though, that the true game can have as much or more fun playing Super Techmo Bowl on NES than the newest copy of Madden (or any comparative “then-and-now” game/genre. I was in Game Exchange the other day and saw a guy trade in about 10 games and some type of system. I think the games were PS2 or Xbox, and the clerk said they wouldn’t even buy the used system because the serial number was too low. The guy got around $55 for all his games (and let’s assume that on average he paid $35 a game for them new or slightly used [probably more though] – that means he had a net loss of $295, and even more loss if you take into account of owning a system with no games to play on it. I pity the foo’. Granted, everyone owns some games that ended up being mediocre and will never be played again, so $2 is better than a dust collector right? I would agree, and would sell some of my games for $2 if I thought I could get that much. I think the question gamers should ask themselves is this: will I EVER in my lifetime play this game again, or will my children EVER play it? If yes, then it is worth holding on to. So, continuing with my “gaming on the cheap” theme, as I mentioned, I have no qualms snagging second-hand games for half the price (or cheaper). I didn’t get my xbox until Christmas of 2004, after it had been out for quite some time. (Thanks to my wife for the best, though likely most regrettable, Christmas present ever; nothing says “I love you” like a present that you know will consume potential quality time and money. You rock, babe.) The financial benefit of “holding out” is obvious when you look at eBay and game stores’ prices on used merchandise. Take someone with an identical library as mine, and I can probably guarantee you I’ve spent less. One may argue that I’m “missing out” on all the fun of the new system, and to some extent they are correct. When and if I do get a 360, I will never have the same amount of fun playing GRAW or COD2 on Live as they are simply because the online community for those games will have dwindled by then and have moved on to the latest and greatest. And, I’ll admit that some games would have been more fun had I entered the online scene of them sooner (Forza, Doom 3, NFSU2, NCAA05/Top Spin). I have no regrets though, and no debts either, which is something of which to be proud. To those like-minded fellows and ladies who prefer, or must, save a buck or two here and there, don’t be discouraged that you’re not “in the loop.” You’re just not in THAT particular “latest & greatest” loop, and, wait for it, THAT’S OKAY.

Check out Gamespot.com or ign or your “all things gaming” website of choice. At gamespot, you can choose a console and sort ALL the games by rating. Just looking at the “winners” over the years, you can build a substantial wish list of some awesome games, and then proceed to acquire that wish list. Meanwhile, the price of the latest system and its games is declining. So while you’re having fun with your shiny used copy of Ninja Gaiden Black, a) you do not feel so alienated from “the IN crowd” since you’re having a blast yourself, 2) you’re obtaining enjoyment at a fraction of the cost, and d) you will never run out of titles to “catch up” on. My newest game is Fable: The Lost Chapters. It is a blast and my next blog will likely be based on it for the un-informed. I’d put it in this post, but don’t want to be too long-winded (so much for that). Regarding budgeted gaming (aka “gaming on the cheap”) though, know that it is possible with a bit of patience and the ability to be content for the time being. As a disclaimer, this blog is in no way derogatory of “the IN crowd” that has 360’s or pre-ordered PS3’s or the best of the best. Many of us, myself included, would have a 360 if we could, but must refrain for the time being. Don’t sell your copies of GRAW and PGR3, and be ready to dust ‘em off down the road when I can give you a run for your money. Happy gaming to all.

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Perspective and Consistency

Halo 2, and really any game you play on Live, is all about Perspective. Many of us that play are quite competitive; we like to win; we do not like losing (who does?). So it is understandable how Halo 2 (or other) can be extremely frustrating when you lose or perform poorly with any consistency. Team balance can be hard to come by, in both customs and MM. My clan had a discussion on this in our forum not too long ago. It was basically decided that it was the responsibility of the Party Leader to decide if teams were unfair and that it was the PL’s call on whether or not teams should be rearranged. This is a wonderful plan, because no one likes being “that guy” who whines about the teams, even if he/she just lost 50-16. So, to my clan reading this, if you are party leader, do not be afraid to mix up teams, even if it’s “just because.” Some people may be content with the team they are currently on, and others may be content no matter what team they are on regardless of the score (which is very commendable). Still, there are others who will not speak up, or will even say that the teams are fine, who really are not enjoying the game as much as they could because they are having an off night. If this is you, do not be afraid to request the PL to mix the teams up (note I said ask the PL, not the room – the room may shoot you down, since you are the minority regarding team contentment.) The unsatisfied player should have the courage to express their personal dissatisfaction with the teams or simply express their desire to mix it up, and the PL should try to accommodate the party accordingly. There never will be “the perfect matchup,” and you cannot always get what you want, but I would argue that a good Clan night or good round of customs occurs when I am 50-50 W-L. If I go 80-20, super-duper; pat myself on the back. However, if I’m 80-20, that means someone is 20-80, and I would rather lose 30% more of the time and everyone have an enjoyable experience than dominate the field and someone “call it a night” since they cannot seem to buy a kill. Winning is not a reward when achieved at the cost of another’s misery. I encourage all of you to keep this in mind. Play to the best of your ability and strive for excellence, but do so in a way that leads to the betterment of all, not the elevation of some. I believe getting a firm grasp on perceiving Halo 2 and our community in this light will make the experience we share that much more rich and rewarding. Have a wonderful day, everyone.

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Killing time in H2

This is a re-post of my previous blog that got erased (see ‘Dang IE’ blog). I will try to recollect everything I included the first time and maybe add a few other things along the way.

So, without further ado… I present “Killing time in H2”

There are times I log on and don’t feel like jumping into MM. There are few to no clan members and friends on, or rather the group I want to be in is in the middle of a game. Here are some fun things to do by yourself when just piddling around.

The Setup:

Before starting, go create two gametypes. One is Slayer and the other is Juggernaut. The settings are identical except for the Jugg game which I’ll explain momentarily.

Set the time limit to unlimited and score to unlimited, or 250, or some other high number. Set the respawn, suicide, and betrayal timers to their lowest setting. Activate Damage Resistance and Overshields. Starting weapon Rockets, secondary Sword. Rockets on map. Weapon respawn double time. Vehicles – Ghost, Gauss Hogg, Wraith, and Banshee On. For the Jugg game, add Fast Movement, Infinite Ammo, and Damage resistance also.

For Superjump related stuff or if you have a partner, I’d go with the Slayer type; if alone, the Jugg type can help you zip around the map quicker and not have to go grab more rocket ammo. Turrets optional.

Getting on the Relic.

Easy to do and fun. Get in the hog and push one of the tall metal barriers near the bomb spawn over near the base of the Relic. Stand on the “T” brace that holds the barrier up, and shoot the top of the shield. This will effectively catapult you upwards, and you can land on top of the relic with relative ease.

The other day for fun I cleared all movable objects off the map. It was neat because it looked so much more “clean.” It also made for some good hog driving. Speaking of which, I bet you didn’t know that using a Gauss hog, you can shoot the Covie Sniper perch off of the gravity lift? After you do that, you can use the lift and just hover mid-air, if that’s your thing.

Hog Driving:

I like driving around much more than the average gamer. I like to grab a map like Coag, Containment, Relic, Burial Mounds, Headlong, and even Zanzibar and find which runs are the fastest or safest or most stealthy. I can intentionally roll a truck and regain control with surprising consistency. I’m not perfect, but practicing has definitely helped improve my driving skill, which has made the difference in more than a few down-to-the-wire games. If you don’t like “just driving around” it is still fun to find jumps/ramps to go off of and mess around.

Jumping:

Videos abound on different fun and tactical jumps on all the maps, so I won’t get into those since they can be found on the net with ease.

I will go over a Jumping gametype setup though. Create an Oddball game with 1 ball, no weapons on map, minimum respawn timers, Starting weapon plasma pistol, starting grenades on.

When you start the game, go to the oddball. Charge your PP and keep holding R. walk up to the oddball where it tells you to press X to pick it up. With the PP charged, press X. You should throw both items out in front of you, and have NO weapon in hand (pretty cool). BUT, if you happen to walk over your weapon or the ball, you will automatically pick it up. I usually run forward and as soon as I press X to pick up the ball I immediately backpedal. The forward motion tosses the items a little farther out so you don’t immediately grab one inadvertently.

You can then proceed to run around and jump to your heart’s content.

Banshee sliding:

This is so fun. I’d love to get good enough at this to incorporate it into my gameplay, but I doubt that will happen. If you are unaware, banshee sliding is the act of boosting, rolling, bailing a banshee to propel your body across the map at a high rate of speed. Here’s how:

Get in a banshee on a large level like Coag or Containment. Stay low to the ground and boost the banshee with L. Release L and Immediately do a barrel roll (right and A). As soon as you start to roll, press X to bail out. You are now being hurled across the map. NOW, if you know anything about slide jumping, you can continue across the map like a skipping stone. To slide jump after being hurled as mentioned, hit crouch as you contact the ground, then jump. Continue this process to maintain your speed and you can traverse long distances in no time. This would be useful if, say, a flag or bomb was on the map and you could effectively Banshee slide into it, grab it, and “skip” across the map. You couldn’t be caught on foot and could put some decent distance between you and your enemy. Very fun and very cool.

Button Combos:

Print out a list of all the button combos (I don’t have a link handy) and practice them. I know we’re old, but try to pretend that you’ve been surprised by an enemy, and practice that BxR, BxB and other assorted combos and see if it helps you incorporate them into a real game. I BxB regularly, but am very lacking in actually using the other ones in a real game. Killing time is a good time to practice.

HeadLaunch:

I wrote about a page detail on this last time I made this blog when it got deleted, so this won’t be as good as that, but if you don’t follow, let me know and I’ll show you in game. You need a partner or dummy for this one. On headlong, get in the wraith and take it to the left side of the Flag base (which I will refer to as teleporter side). Park it about halfway down the building with your partner or dummy. Facing the building with the top-level teleporter, walk to the “mini-wall” that divides the upper area where the street is and the lower area where the flag base. Stand in the middle of the two right-most pylons that are on the lower level (level 1). Put your back up against the mini-wall (not the wall of the base or the teleporter building) and face toward the flag base. Have the wraith driver line up with you such that you are facing one another. Now, have the Wraith charge you (L) and basically sandwich you between itself and the mini-wall. If done correctly, you should skyrocket upward and go very high. In the air, you can land on the crane on top of flag base, or turn around and land on top of the teleporter building or even the back wall (it would be behind you and to the left from your launch point facing the flag base). If you do make it on the higher building, you can run along it (you won’t be able to see the floor on this one) and drop down behind it onto a large area where you can run around. Alternatively, you can have the wraith hit you on your left shoulder. Done correctly, this should launch you across the map toward Base 1 (bomb spawn) and you can run around on top of those buildings. Fun stuff for a change of pace.

Glitches:

Superjumps and Getting out of Levels.

The latter is my newest hobby, which started with the HeadLaunch thing. Similarly to Jumping, videos abound on both topics, but if you’re interested, you may want to check out www.halo2spy.com and www.highimpacthalo.com

Both sites have pretty extensive video databases of tutorials for superjumps and getting out of levels. Also, if anyone reading this wants to mess around sometime, I’d love to learn some new things. I’m really just now getting into these, so I’m not too educated on the subject. Send me a F/R if you’re interested.

Yesterday, Selden showed me how to get out of Gemini, which was a blast. Basically, you go to the outside teleporter and either partner jump (off someone’s head) or sword cancel to get on top of the teleporter. Then get a partner up there. Stand on the highest peak of that structure (don’t slide off) while the other goes out toward the outer “point.” That person then turns around and starts walking up the incline until you are in their sword range. You jump, and have them sword cancel on you to lunge up onto the main building. You then turn around and sword cancel up to where they are. Now run away from the teleporter (away from the monstrosity in the distance) up the incline to the wall. Jump and have partner sword-cancel over the wall. Then have them walk back toward you until you can see their sword through the wall – have them jump and then sword cancel off them to get yourself over.

Now the easy stuff: Continue running away from the teleporter/monstrosity for literally about 2-3 minutes (it’s a LONG run). You’ll eventually hit a wall and your “run” animation will change to a “walking into a wall” animation. Once at this invisible wall, turn to the right and start walking again. If you look off into the distance, you will see yourself starting to fall. You can then see the massive structure you were just on. Keep going right until you don’t see yourself falling anymore, then start making the 2-3 minute run back toward the monstrosity in the distance (the way you came from toward the teleporter). You should run all the way under the large structure above you (that holds the whole map) and eventually get to the other side of it up under the teleporter. What’s funny is that if someone falls off near the teleporter, their body will land on the level you are on (and subsequently be defiled). Not a whole lot to “do” down there, but it’s a neat experience. If you’re new to all this, for the love, learn how to sword cancel. Some people have a hard time with that whole, “press X once you start to lunge” thing and end up assassinating folks accidentally – not pretty.

So, next time you’re sitting on your butt waiting for an invite, create a game and have some fun. No sense in you being bored while everyone else has fun. Best of all: NO TIMMIES!!!

See ya on Live.

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Controller Setup

Myth: The higher look sensitivity you have, the better player you are.
Myth: Default config is best.

Ill get look sensitivity out of the way. It is dang hard to snipe with look sensitivity 10. A lot of the pros stay between 3-5. Do what feels best for you.

Regarding controller configuration, what is best is not what is common; what is best is what suits your play style best. All configurations have advantages and disadvantages. Take a look at my sig:

Look at my medals. You can tell right away what type of player I am.
I have a pretty unique controller setup (in that I rarely hear of others that have the same type).
I run a Legacy Boxer setup with inverted look and inverted flight controls - look sensitivity 5.
I dabbled at 7, but it was too much.
Let me break it down a bit:
- Legacy -
I grew up on consoles, not PC games. I played my N64 to death (and still do); moreover, I played Goldeneye 007 with friends to death.

To run forward, you used the analog stick (center) and used it to turn left or right.
To strafe, you used the left and right "C buttons" (Buttons 5,3 in figure) and to look up and down you used the top and bottom C buttons (6,2). I had a PS, but didnt get a PS2 or xbox right away. My AWESOME wife bought me an xbox Christmas before last with Halo 2, but I had been playing LAN Halo 1 for a while already (and was pretty good for having not owned one). My N64 play style (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok) translated well to Haloin the form of the Legacy controller setup. Enough backstory.

Legacy is good if you have a similar gaming background. It fits me just fine, and with my slightly higher look sensitivity I can dance circles around most people.
Legacy is bad if you are accustomed to Default. Default is killer for me because if, say, I want to circle strafe to my right (while turning to the left) I would press my thumbsticks outward on Legacy. To do this on Default, you would press them inward. Halo 1 was difficult for me to pick up if someone quit midgame and I got the controller, especially since my look inversion was enabled also... I flat out sucked unless I could create my guy ahead of time. Luckily H2 lets you change mid-game if need be. Good job Bungie.
If you are reading this and you think you are a lesser skilled player compared to most, you may want to toy with Legacy. It may come naturally to you (apart from breaking the habitual tendencies you have from playing Default to date) and, in time, allow you to react quicker than your enemy since it (potentially) feels more natural. Ignoring lag, those milliseconds of instinctual reaction time could make a big difference in the long run.

Now for the biggie:
- Boxer -
The "secret to my success" is running a Boxer setup. Look at my medals: at the time of this posting, I have 1,061 beatdowns and 444 assassinations. Most "Defaulters" highest medal count is sniping. You can obviously see the difference it makes. I am a good all-around fighter, but I love to beatdown. If you dont know, Boxer setup switches the Grenade and Melee buttons on the controller. You can tell from my sticky medals that I dont grenade as much as say, DedJeLoC and some other players. But think about it: Sticking people is hard, and you will have MANY more opportunities to melee an opponent than stick them. If you are a lesser skilled player, give boxer a try in some of the custom games you play, and see if you find yourself getting more beatdown kills. Think about button combos. For the Default person, they have to press BXB for the double melee. I on the other hand press LXL, which I would bet I can do faster than they can. Further, because of my legacy setup, I can still have full control over my movement; at most I lose the ability to strafe if im pressing X for that split second. For the Defaulter, they lose their ability to turn since their right thumb is BXBing. So, Boxer coupled with Legacy allows me to get a LOT of kills via melees.
The biggest downside to Legacy Boxer is that when dual weilding, since L is my left gun, I cant melee immediately. So in a game of Dual Weapons, I get beat down more since the Defaulter can simply press B to drop and hit me, whereas I have to hit Y to drop my weapon then hit L; otherwise, hitting L just shoots more bullets.

All in all though, I think this setup is great, and recommend it to anyone looking to try something new, especially if you feel youve reached your peak and are still not as good as youd like to be.
Good luck. See you on Live,
- Meef -

[2 Comments]

"Had a Bad Day" - Pet Peeve

Dear Daniel Powder,

The words "most" and "lost," though they both end in "ost," in fact, do not rhyme.
That is all.

[1 Comments]

Dang IE

I just spent 30 minutes typing up a detailed blog entry... This one was even related to H2.

In the course of creating this entry for the edification and benefit of my fellow 2o2pers, I cleared the temporary internet files and cookies in IE. Still had the blog post window open though.

When I hit submit entry... nothin.

No new entry... grrr.

When I hit the Back button, it took me back to the main blog page... grrr.

So there went 30 minutes down the drain, and now I dont feel like re-typing it.

Maybe another time. Sorry guys.

[3 Comments]

"Customer Service"

Quick RL entry:

The term Customer Service should be banned, or only given as an honorary title… I just switched carriers from Verizon to Cingular. I had had a LG VX4400 phone for the last 2 years, and have a brand new Nokia 6682 that is sweet. I go to TWO Cingular stores today to get my phonebook transferred to the new phone, and neither location can do it.

I have a friend who used to work at T-mobile that was Mr. Phone Guru and knew the answer to just about any question asked about their phones. He could text faster than I could talk just about, and he had a genuine interest and knowledge of the products he sold.

These dang “summer job” kids at the two stores I visited don’t know crap about my LG phone (understandable – different carrier) OR my Nokia 6682. The first location gave me the “something’s wrong with your phone” spill—I just sighed and left. The second said “I don’t think we have the right cable to fit that phone.” Better excuse, but still frustrating when I “waste” my lunch hour trying to avoid manually entering everyone I friggin’ know…

Further, I have a brand new phone. It’s even got the protective screen cover on it still. It is, for all intents and purposes, flawless. These “pros” are manhandling my phone like they’re being timed on how fast they can disassemble it. Dude#1 all but rips the battery cover off, pops out the battery like you would your TV remote, yanks the SIM card and puts it on the counter sans-carefully. Chick#2 was more careful, but “forgot” how to reassemble it, almost breaking the SIM card that slides in a narrow slot and clicks into place. My phone feels violated; they could have at least worn a condom.

[3 Comments]

Graduation

You’ll never guess what happened yesterday. I keep thinking I may have dreamt it.

My wife (who rocks, if you read the Intro) and I have been looking for a graduation present for her. She officially graduates from nursing school this Friday, after which we’re going to the beach (Gulf Shores area) for a week. So we had tossed some ideas around and I had given her a ballpark budget that was pretty lenient. She also received a smidge over $500 from friends and family for grad gifts. We had pretty much decided on patio furniture for her present, as we have a really nice back porch that’s screened in and all. Then yesterday, around dinner time, she says “you know I’ve been thinking, how much would one of those big screen TVs cost?” I gave her the basic rundown of DLP vs. LCD vs. Plasma and she seemed pretty excited about it. So we may end up getting a new (nice) HDTV, which is right up my alley. I love tech stuff like that. She said that her present should be a present for both of us, since I was so supportive through the last 2.5 years of school. Did I mention my wife rocks?

I’m going to start looking around for one. I am a bit against DLP due to the viewing angle problem. My friend’s DLP is nice and all, but very dark from the floor looking up at it (which is how I play H2 generally) and also from the sides. The 42” plasma would definitely be an upgrade from my 32” 4:3 CRT, but I don’t know how reliable they are. Throw me some ideas if you have shopped around recently for a decent TV. Budget is (approximately) $1k-$1.3k.

[3 Comments]

Intro

I think I’m going to dedicate my blog to Halo 2. I may occasionally venture into the realm of real life events, but will try to provide information that will be helpful to the average player. One warning: I am very generous with my use of “quoties.”

So, for blog post #1 let’s get the “RL” stuff out of the way:

My name is Jay; I live in Birmingham, AL and will have been married 2 years this July. My wife is awesome, and is honestly the most attractive person I have ever met. I definitely won the lottery with her; her only “flaw” is that she hates Halo. I’d love for her to “come around” and learn to play and enjoy “Quality time Halo” but know that that’s not gonna happen… ever. It’s my own fault, though. While we were dating, I used to play EverQuest (aka EverCrack) which for those who don’t know is basically a glorified chat room. I spent days and days playing that game, and she hated every minute. The best thing that came from it, though, was that I was able to sell my account and online currency for about $720, which I used to buy a Samsung 32” flat screen CRT HDTV (TXP-3264 model), which rocks. Playing H2 on it or watching HD cable is yummy – all for playing a game… not too shabby.

Anyway, I’ll wrap up the intro and try to post things I find helpful; hopefully it won’t turn into a “link-fest” of other sites. I’m sure I can come up with some original thought at some point… we shall see…

[6 Comments]